Egypt Dissident to Again Challenge Mubarak

CAIRO - Egypt's top political dissident Ayman Nur on Tuesday announced he would again challenge President Hosni Mubarak in the 2011 presidential election although he is barred from running because of having served time in jail.

Nur, a lawyer, set up the Al-Ghad party in 2004 and mounted an unprecedented challenge against Mubarak during the 2005 presidential election before being jailed on forgery charges many saw as trumped up.

He came a distant second to Mubarak in the country's first multi-candidate elections, garnering 7.6 percent of votes against 88 percent for Mubarak, amid violence and allegations of fraud.

Nur, who was released in February 2009 on health grounds after spending three years in jail, said he was determined to fight "Mubarak's will to block everything in the country and seek to be replaced by his son Gamal."

"Our country has been occupied for 29 years," Nur, 46, told reporters, in reference to Mubarak's tenure.

"It is high time that the president makes room for the new generations," said Nur, who in line with the law is ineligible to run in the presidential race because he was convicted and jailed.

The 81-year-old veteran leader succeeded assassinated president Anwar Sadat in 1981 and has been widely believed to be grooming Gamal to succeed him in next year's presidential election.

Meanwhile supporters who planned a march in central Cairo to mark the start of Nur's electoral campaign was dispersed by the police, an AFP correspondent said, adding that Nur's son, Nur Ayman Nur, was detained.

CAIRO - Egypt's top political dissident Ayman Nur on Tuesday announced he would again challenge President Hosni Mubarak in the 2011 presidential election although he is barred from running because of having served time in jail.